God and Cari's Pennies (A True Story)



My worst imagination happened:  Cari left me.  All I had were her basket of pennies.  I don't know how many.  It was a small basket.

One night, as I sat alone in what used to be our apartment, the Spirit said to me, "Take Cari's pennies and go to the movies."  I really didn't want to do this.   I was at the lowest point of my life, and I didn't want to use pennies for movies.  But The Spirit insisted.

So I got into what used to be our red Jetta and drove to the nearest theater...which was shut down. A condemned building.  What now?  "Wait here until I tell you to go," The Spirit said. So I waited...and waited..."Now Go."  I went.

Then it happened.

As soon as I pulled up into the parking space of the Avondale Dollar Theatre, Pastor Sands pulled up right in front of me.  He came to me and told me how I was hurting him.  I was leaving his church, and he felt deeply hurt.  I told him not to feel hurt, or that I was leaving him.  We were both following the Spirit, and I was following Him in a different direction.  I don't know if my pastor understood, but his quiet wife lightly touched my hand as they walked away.  I didn't know that would be the last time I saw her.  She passed away some time after.

I went to the ticket window and took out Cari's pennies. "Just go in," the movie employee told me.  So I went to the movie for free.

I go to buy snacks.  I pick what I want, not paying attention to the cost at all.  The cashier rings up the price of my snacks.  I hadn't counted Cari's pennies at all.  I gave the cashier the pennies, letting her count them.  When she finished counting, it was the exact amount needed to pay for my snacks.

My worst imagination happened:  Cari left me.  But her pennies showed me that God was with me, and that meeting her, somehow, was my destiny.